Friday, June 27, 2014

Blossom Time

I paddle upstream, the floating catalpa tree blossoms passing by at a somewhat faster rate than does the shore. The static map, if one wants to consult it, will show the places I go to, but not the distance I will travel. The map leaves out the floating catalpa blossoms that drift by at a somewhat faster rate than does the shore. Maps always leave out more than they hold.

Time that has happened

I stop to watch the blossoms fall. They strike the water about once per second, an inexact clock, a blossom clock.

After paddling a distance of about a many thousand blossoms, I find a great blue heron standing in collected blossoms and hunting. It makes a strike and misses.

The wind comes up, but the blossoms continue to fall at the same inexact rate. The science of blossom dropping is not directly proportional to the wind.

Time waiting to happen

I return, passing the same number of blossoms even though many of the blossoms I passed on the way up have drifted past where I will take out. More blossoms have been added to the river - one per second per tree.

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The Who, What, and Why

The first 300+ entries in this blog were from the Seattle area on the west coast of North America. Starting with October 5, 2012, my blog (and myself for that matter) has moved to Connecticut on the east coast. I have a lot to learn about my new home. I paddle solo most of the time, but I do take others on many trips. Photographs are shot from the canoe on the day of the trip. The writing is done by pencil and paper in the canoe.

I am an interdisciplinary artist creating content-driven and concept-driven artwork in a diverse selection of materials and themes with a very strong recent emphasis on nature and ecology. I was the Rubicon Foundation/Smoke Farm Artist in Residence for 2011-2012. I now live in Connecticut.